Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.
Today’s prompt is: Books I Did Not Finish (DNFed) (feel free to tell us why, but please no spoilers!)
My reasons for not finishing a book are rarely because the book is bad or not worth reading. Most of the time it is completely related to the fact the book and my personality don’t mesh. Also, in some cases I don’t finish a book at one time but go back later and finish it. That’s most likely going to be the case with many of the books here, so if you loved one of these books on my list, know that adding them to a DNF list doesn’t mean I hated them.
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
I tried! I tried! I wanted to read a Dickens. It about killed me. It was so wordy! Worse than I expected. I read part of this book in high school and enjoyed it but for some reason I could just not get into it now that I am an adult. I do want to try again someday, however.
2. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I don’t know if it is fair to mention this one since it was just a DNF for me and I might go back to it but for now it is a DNF and I’m reading some other books. I wanted to read this with my son for his British Literature class but…it was just so heavy. I couldn’t get into it. I have an audiobook with Dan Stevens and I’m really enjoying his narration so I am going to try to get back into it.
3. Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever
I wanted to like this book. I did. It was just so choppy and dull as watch sap harden in the winter. The stories about Anthony could have been interesting but they were all chopped up and some of them were from people who truly didn’t know him that well. I skipped to the end and read a couple quotes from his daughter but for the most part this was just a chopped-up mess of stories. I didn’t get it at all. I have heard there are other, much better biographies out there so I will try them in the future.
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
I did not hate this book. I just couldn’t get into the style of writing, the tiny little chapters, and the bouncing back and forth between character in every other chapter.
5. Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
I will go back to this one but it just didn’t pull me in like Little Women did. I am a mood reader so I think I was simply not in the mood for it when I tried to read it.
6. The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith
I think this one just didn’t catch me at the right time. I could not get into it at all but I am willing to try again sometime in the future.
7. A Fatal Footnote by Margaret Loudon
I didn’t even make it through five pages of this one. The author kept changing the name of her character and repeating the name over and over. She’d write, “Penelope didn’t know why Millie was looking at her that way but Penn was uncomfortable with it.”
What? Why keep changing her name and in the same sentence or paragraph? She seemed allergic to using pronouns instead of the names she kept using too. It would have been one thing if a character said to her, “Hey, Penn!” instead of Penelope but for the author to be changing it in the prose….it was weird.
8. Anne’s House of Dreams by L.M. Montgomery
This was just not my favorite book of Montgomery’s. It was so sad and depressing to me. I might go back someday and finish it but it was a slog for me. I skipped ahead to the end but really didn’t go back and read the rest so I consider it a DNF.
9. What’s the Worse That Can Happen by Donald Westlake
My husband is a huge Westlake fan and I read one book by him, Call Me A Cab, and liked it but so far I haven’t really been able to get into the rest of his books. I do plan to try this one again at some point.
10. Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly
I know we cozy mystery readers have to suspend belief at times but this one…well, it was a bit too much suspending belief. I couldn’t finish this one at all. I don’t plan to try again.
What books have you not finished? Will you ever go back and try them again?
